


ask me my name

by whisperunicornrainbow



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Alex-centric, Gen, Magic Realism, breaking the fourth wall in a way, character study I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 16:49:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13239951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whisperunicornrainbow/pseuds/whisperunicornrainbow
Summary: Alex was always observant.





	ask me my name

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my Secret Santa gift to seeyouintheblue on Tumblr! Hope you like it!

Alex was always observant.

 

She knew her town was not-quite-right, and she knew her school read like a soap opera and a shonen anime and someone high on more than life.

 

She often wondered if she was too aware: things happened, in Mayview, strange things, yet no one ever noticed. No one important, at least. And she had learned long ago that she was one of those Not Important People. It might’ve appeared weird, from an outsider’s perspective, that Alex’s biggest dream was to be an Important Person--not in the sense of defeating a monster or winning a national award, but in how things would happen around her, to her. And if the Universe was feeling kind, people too.

 

Until she was nine, she’d wished her name was more interesting than _Alex_. Something savory that rolled off the tongue and left an imprint of adventure in a mind, like _Perseus_ or _Katniss_. Then she realized that Important People more often than not had rather normal names, to emphasize their unique normalness. It was different from normal normalness, which was quite dull. After all, _Harry_ is a bit ugly, made her feel better about her own. So she switched her goal of changing her name, to making people remember it.

 

Isabel is perfect main character material, and Alex finds it strange that she’s not, quite. Smart and friendly and overflowing with talent, more than she knows what to do with, and best of all, she’s insecure. Strong with weaknesses that need acknowledged, she's basically begging to be put on center stage of the theater that is life. She’s Important, Tremendously Important, though not The Most Important, which is... interesting.

 

Ed plays the funny best friend, and he plays it well. Random and loyal and the shadow to Isabel’s star, with a grin that’s designed to make you smile. He’s more dimensional than some Best Friends, with his own flaws and character development. But it’s undeniable what his role is, and unlike others he doesn’t appear to mind it. He’s happiest when with Isabel (Alex hesitates to call it codependency, because if any relationship is healthy, it’s theirs).

 

They often sneak away, doing Important things, and Alex senses the Universe gather around them, wrap them up in something like a hug. She tries not to envy.

 

Isaac comes. He is a problem person. Alex could say he’s the Sosuke to their Naruto, the Blue to their Red, and she would not be incorrect. From what she can tell, he’s a friend that does more harm than good, but not on purpose never on purpose, and there's never any doubt if he's a protagonist. Still, he has more problems than Isabel and Ed combined, enough to fuel eight books on just thoughts. She thinks he might be the Brooding Friend.

 

Alex sits, in class, in lunch, on the bus, and nothing happens. She watches as the three gather together by the pull of the Universe, their personalities so bright and loud they appear to draw the very sunlight. They’re like a puzzle with a missing piece, and the Universe holds it breath, and she wonders if her whole life so far has been a Before.

 

Max moves to Mayview.

 

He’s not what she imagined when she thought of the Most Important Person, but the second she lays eyes on him she knows he’s the one. The Universe follows him around like a lovesick buffoon, and every action he does seems to have triple the weight, and the very earth sings his praise.

 

Like the Universe, Alex is pulled towards him, magnetized. She learns he is sarcastic, does sick flips, and has a father and a sister (she feels guilty, when he does not mention a mother and she thinks, 'how cliche'). She cannot see deeper than that. It unnerves her. 

 

Perhaps strangest of all, though, is his utter normalcy. He is not boring, not in any sense of the word. But he complains about the school’s melodrama, almost too-aware (like her), and even his dark clothes seem to not-quite-fit with the world’s pleasing colors. He is not prone to Isaac’s dramatic sparkles or Isabel’s overly aggressive cheer, or Ed’s utter Edness. She wonders if the Universe made this purposeful, to stand out even more, but she is doubtful. She must be missing something.

 

They’re the definition of The Main Group, hanging out after school and bouncing off each other’s banter. Still, their puzzle pieces are a bit too different to truly click. Alex doesn’t notice--she is too busy battling jealousy, as she thinks of her lonely table and lonely desk and lonely house.

 

Things happen too quickly, and Alex is left out again. She feels the Universe bend and warp around her as she sits at her familiar desk doing familiar homework. She listens to the wind gossiping about all the news in a language not her own. She sits, doing nothing Important, and she aches.

 

And then one morning she wakes up, and the Universe is hovering over her bed. It had never acknowledged her existence before (she had, once or twice, entertained the idea that one who was as observant as her was not supposed to live, and the Universe was doing her a favor). She couldn’t help the flutter of anticipation in her stomach. Her role as a Not Important Person had changed slightly--she was in some of the scenes where Important things happened, and though her design makes her easy to overlook, it was still something. She wondered if she would have a run in with one of the many Kinda Important People, like Johnny Jhonny or Suzy, minor antagonists.

 

She walks through the day as the Universe bumps into the back of her legs, like an overexcited puppy. The setting changes to gym, and the air is thick with electricity that only she seems to feel. Then she notices Dimitri, who’s quite good at discerning Plot, seeming as tense as she. She gets jealous all over again that someone with her abilities gets to be a Kinda Important Character.

 

Hitball happens. Something is wrong with Jeff.

 

Somewhere along this week he had upgraded from a Not Important Person to Kinda Important, but she had been too busy trying to get screen time to notice. Now the Universe detached off her and swirled around him, chittering agitatedly as he became the center of the scene. 

 

Dimitri joined the fray, and she watched as always.

 

The characters were whittled down, until only Max and Johnny were left to defeat the Antagonist (and that’s who Not-Jeff was, she’d realized five minutes in). Max made his Heroic Sacrifice (not his type, but bound to happen sometime), and then the Universe was next to her again, urging her to do...something. She acted on instinct, tearing off a slip of paper and writing down what felt right. And then, while the whole cast gathered around their Most Important Person, she used her uninteresting features to her advantage, slipping the note into his pocket without being noticed.

 

For the first time, she affected the Plot.

 

For the first time, she felt Important.


End file.
